I love going to wider church events of the likes of Synod and Assembly. I find them so inspiring. Not because of the general business that gets done - though it is an essential part of Synod - but because of the different expressions of discipleship that are celebrated in the gathered community of Synod. Two expressions of this that we heard about tonight were the reports on the next National Christian Youth Convention (NCYC) and the 2nd Generation report on migrant children in Australia.
NCYC is being held in Melbourne in 2009 and I so want to go. If Bacchus Marsh can’t get a small delegation of (at least) four or five young people to go and have a great time together between Jan 3 and 9, then I’ll go by myself as a chaplain. This is such an encouraging aspect of the wider Uniting Church’s life. I will be looking to keep this challenge before our Marsh Parish; “What can we do to support NCYC 09?”
The 2nd Generation project is also an exciting venture that ties in both youth expressions and cross-cultural expressions of what it means to be disciples in the Uniting Church. I’ve had cause to reflect that my commitment to the issues of cross-cultural relationship building and first-people’s relationship building has taken a back seat while I’ve been learning to accomodate the tasks of parish ministry. I hope to make these (and other) issues more obvious, focussed and engage-able (if that’s a word) in the life of our community around the Marsh.
The other aspect of Synod that has me saying ‘yes’ is the movement to develop a “culture of call” within the VicTas Synod, whereby people are actively encouraged to consider what call God might be making on their lives - including the various calls to specified ministry that exist in the Uniting Church. Obviously I’m biassed when it comes to ministry as a vocation; I think it’s a fantastic life-calling! The challenge is to find a way to build a culture around our church communities that foster full-time specified ministry - lay or ordained - as a vocational choice. I wonder if too often we see church as a hobby; if we see faith as an optional extra. Why can’t a call to ministry be a viable vocational choice for people, especially young people in our church?
More to come as I assimilate some other thoughts from this most refeshing four days.
